Never Flash a USB Drive Again - IODD ST400
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- Опубликовано: 6 июл 2024
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Every IT field technician knows the pain of weighing down your pockets with bootable USB drives only to find out you don't have what you need. Never be caught with the wrong boot image again, thanks to the IODD ST400, a secure, encrypted enclosure that acts as a bootable virtual ODD and SSD that can replace an entire pocket full of bootable USB sticks.
BUT FIRST.... What am I drinking?
Coffee.... just coffee from a French press. Nothing special about it. But it was good and just what I needed for an early morning shoot.
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I've been using the older iodd/zalman branded products like this for years as a PC tech. While tools like Ventoy are amazing for what I imagine the casual users needs, these things present both UEFI and legacy boot options based on the host PC and ISO loaded. I've had Ventoy not work properly on a LOT of older systems (I deal with a lot of older folks on a budget that just need their old PC working again). Another thing I love is the ability to set it in optical only, HDD only, or both so you limit access to the system seeing your data on the rest of the drive while booting from an ISO, or use the drive to do simple backups.
I don't think the casual user really needs this over Ventoy, but I tried switching away and that wasn't an option for me, now I just keep Ventoy on the drive I carry in my pocket with a smaller selection of images and really only use it when I don't have my full bag with me.
Exactly! Ventoy works wonderfully for ISO booting, but does have specific limitations or weaknesses compared to the ST400. All the comments below this are akin to 'just use Linux bro' because they only consider their own specific use cases.
EDIT: Love you @Lemming!
@@CraftComputing I think this reply is a bit too dismissive of the criticism, because in the video you directly contrast this device to carrying around multiple USB drives or needing to flash a USB drive every time you want to use it to make sure it has the correct image on it. Ventoy IS an alternative to THAT case, even if it's not as full-featured as the product you're testing.
Of course this product can do things that Ventoy can't, but Ventoy doesn't have the problem of having to manually select images, and for many of the people who watch your channel Ventoy deserves a mention because we don't need those extra features. I think that's why so many people are talking about Ventoy in the comments.
Yeah, it's more for enterprise where value (price performance) doesn't matter...
@@amp888 I totally second your opinion.
Yup, I've been using the zalman for 5-6 years now. Started with a 320 GB laptop drive that was a leftover, then a 500 GB SSD and currently a 2TB SSD...
So it’s Ventoy as Hardware
thought the same. I've been using an external USB hard drive with Ventoy for years.
I bought one of these cases and returned it after a day. I found it a bit clunky and learned about a ventoy right after. Great program all around.
One thing about this hardware one is that I was trying to get vdi images working in read/write. That'd be awesome for a dos drive with firmware updates, etc. Never did work in my breif testing.
I don't think there's a way to have a read/write image in Ventoy.
Much more powerful than that. AES256 Encryption in hardware, VHD Bootable mounting, plus, you know, ISO mounting like Ventoy.
Ye. it's cool, but ventoy works with everything and it's free. But I can't really flash chromeos flex on it, cuz... google 😵
@@CraftComputing Now that I’ve watched further looks quite cool, Ventoy does the job most of the time for me but something I might consider in the future.
have you tried ventoy? does the same and costs nothing and can be used w/ any USB stick
If you actually watched the video... you'd realize there are things this can do that Ventoy cannot.
@@LemmingGoBoom yeah, but in practice, these things are flaky at best...
@@Absolute-Unit I've got one that I've been using for 10 years now, they work just fine.
As if Ventoy is 100% rock solid...
@@CraftComputing Well, you can't beat the value proposition and for most cases it might just be good enough.
I've owned the older iodd-2541 for many, many years. I don't use it very often anymore, but when I do, it's a joy. I threw in a pretty big SSD which comes in handy when I want to take an image of a machine before blowing it away with a new OS.
Oh my goodness the clonezilla move, how did i not think of that :O
I salute you Jeff for the 4D chess move of not mentioning Ventoy or the other 2 or three tools that allow you to make a multiboot usb drive, ensuring everyone and their dog will flood the comment section pointing that out. That's what we call a pro youtuber move. ENGAGEMENT ENGAGED hahha.
Also yes I know the limitations of the software tools, I also identify as IT administrator and I've had to burn CDs some times because stuff wouldn't boot otherwise
Oh, now I feel stupid. Lol
Yeahhhhhh seems that way lol.
It is a definite pro strat. People point out Ventoy, people point out to them Ventoy's shortcomings, sometimes people come back to defend Ventoy... and I'm part of it too now.
make sure you lick the balls when you go all the way down the shaft. youtubers like that.
I use Ventoy to boot from multiple ISOs on a single USB flash drive. Does this method not work well for you? I don't get to play with a lot of server hardware but I'd imagine it would work just fine. This little device is very cool though
Most underrated comment on the video. Glad to see some other Ventoy users representing!
There are things this can do that Ventoy cannot.
| Most underrated comment on the video |
Yes, because no one else mentioned Ventoy ;-)
I am not a tech but I am the go to family member in my family for fixing PC things. THIS is something I needed a long time ago.
There is an option to save state (auto mount ISO on reconnect). This feature was available even on the earliest model IODD 2531 (Zalman VE300).
In IODD ST400 you just need to press 9 on the keypad for 3 seconds - drive will save state and enter sleep (ready for disconnect). Be sure to safely remove drive in Windows BEFORE entering save state status to be sure that all data is safely written to the drive before disconnecting (for NTFS formatted drives).
thanks for this, testing and presenting this product to my IT dept this week.
@@AndrewEvenstarNo problem. This drive is really useful for servicing. And oppose to Ventoy and other USB boot systems, it works with older systems, like 20-years old computers that come with some wood cutting machines in our company.
@@CoreyPL that's awesome. and you mostly just load isos on it and have it load like a virtual disc drive right? anything special you had to do with those old systems?
@@AndrewEvenstar nothing special. If it's able to boot from USB then it will boot from the enclosure. It supports EFI and standard legacy booting. Mounting iso is everything you need to do.
Also be sure to upgrade the firmware once you got the device. There is also a wiki made by manufacturer where you can find list of all the functions bind to different keys and key-combos.
@@CoreyPL very much appreciated for your help. I'll review these notes and the wiki when I test tomorrow !
I'm so mad that I just found out about this. I spent the time and money to get a tone of 32 and 64GB USB drives, a USB drive organizer, create all the bootable drives I need, and label them all. This would have saved me so much time.
Or you couldve downloaded ventoy and use a single or a couple usb drives
@@gglovato some machines just refuse to boot to ventoy depending on age and firmware on the hosts.
It's a great tool, but can be very finicky unless all the hardware you encounter is newer.
@@kienanvella agreed. I am a pc tech by trade and ventoy works a little less than half the time on my customers’ systems. If you have modern non-OEM hardware you probably don’t need this, but the commenters acting like ventoy works great on all systems need to remember that their experiences are NOT universal.
@@kienanvella i know, it does happen to me too, and i keep regular pendrives for those rogue computers
@@gglovato as stated above, it does t always work. And I’d rather not have to wait to find out it doesn’t and waste the time to make a new bootable that does.
I've had an IODD Mini for a while now. It is my most useful tool, period. On mine at least, you can press and hold the disconnect button while an ISO is mounted, and it will remain mounted when the device is powered on and unlocked the next time.
I have the 2541 and the ISO stays mounted as long as you stay in the same directory, even if the PC powers off the USB port on a reboot.
I made a USB stick awhile back that had a GRUB environment and was set up to query the drive for a list of ISOs, and make a menu entry for them. You booted from the drive, then just selected the ISO you wanted, grub booted it and you were good to go. Obviously, it wasn't perfect, but it worked pretty darn well
Yup. Grub2.
I've done the same but using SYSLINUX on a USB stick, and a static menu of bootable kernels. Only worked with booting linux distros, but that's all I needed it for.
Grub2 would have been better, but I was already playing around with PXELINUX too at the time and it was a fun project.
Yup, syslinux! Thank you for correcting me. Custom background, everything.
Great, another super cool gadget I want but don't really need! Thanks Jeff 😉
That's why I'm here :-D
(angry wallet noises)
One note about the encryption: on the IODD Mini, at least, enabling encryption massively reduces the read and write performance. I think it was something like 1/4 the performance.
I'd be curious to see if the drive is *actually* encrypted if you take it out of the case. One Amazon review says they were able to read the data from a locked used drive that was sold as new.
Not sure about the mini, but I have the 2541 and whilst I don't need the encryption so haven't turned it on (I went for the 2541 over the 2531 as I wasn't sure of the reliability of the side toggle switch control on the latter), based on the manual it seems that the encryption happens in real-time, as if you accidentally turn on encryption you can back out as long as you haven't written any data (i.e. initialised the now blank partition table) yet by just turning off the encryption. The encryption is just with the pin code entered, as the decryption is compatible with the desktop version of the product, the 3544.
When you're using encryption on this device, be sure to safely eject it in Windows and then on the device itself. One of the sub menus has a safe eject. I've had a couple of instances when I didn't do the second part and I lost all the data on the drive. Yes, I'm running the latest firmware
I've had my iodd mini for almost 2 years, and I can't live without it. Looks like I'll be getting one of these too
Been using the ST400 since the week it came out, replacing my older IODD. ITs wonderful.
Ive been using the ZALMAN ZM-VE300 for over 8 years crossflashed with IODD firmware to support vhd/vhdx booting. Its still kicking.
Hey could you elaborate on that crossflash? I have that same zalman and would love to add vhd support!
@@NateBluehooves there is a "ioddfirmware" github repo with instructions.
Well, there is a button in your keyboard, since the 80’s that does something magical. When you press “pause” during boot it literally pauses the process so you can select what ever iso you want… my first hd enclosure like that was a zalmann, back 15 years ago… still have it! Works perfectly! Now iodd has it in NVMe version
Wow. I had always wondered why that was still there. Thank you brother. :)
@@variouselite Unpause with Ctrl....
Wow, this looks quite handy... might have to pick one of these up. Always a PITA when I put a physical in and have to dig out a flash drive. Flash drives have a habit if making their way to the very bottom of my drawer at my desk 😄. The encryption is a nice touch too
A friend recommended this to me a few months back and I love it. They work in infosec. They run a VM image off theirs and use it to work from any laptop they want without concern about leaving things behind on someone else's device. Since it's encrypted if they lose it, there is no risk.
Like some other commenters, I've had the older Zalman one for a while, absolutely amazing piece of kit, and has saved my bacon many times in my old sysadmin job. One thing we observed with our units is that they tended to eventually kill any SSDs installed inside them (might be because at the time SSDs weren't really a thing and the old firmware didn't manage wear levelling properly. Likely this has been fixed in newer models).
I'm wonder if a lack of TRIM is the main culprit, but that's speculation. I've had more and more early (~120GB, esp Kingston A400) drives fail regardless of use case.
You can flash the Zalman to the newer IODD firmware btw.
Thanks for that@@Nexxxeh I didn't know there was newer firmware that might work better. Will give it a go.
Great video! Thanks for making me aware of this.
it's on my list. I've used Ventoy and it works well enough except for when it doesn't work at all with certain ISOs, but in addition to the UEFI issues you've mentioned I've also had issues with the Ventoy disk getting corrupted somehow when inserted into a Mac or PC and either losing the ability to boot or not mounting the partition holding the ISOs. This looks to be a much more robust, less annoying solution; just select the ISO you want, plug it in, and go.
And then there's the advantage of being able to check the contents without plugging it into a computer.
I think this might also work for booting up Raspberry Pis and various ARM/x86 SBCs that support USB SSD booting?
But what really sells me on it is the ability to use it to boot a USB version of Windows. I have a USB stick floating around just for that, and I'd much rather consolidate that and all my ISO images and Raspberry Pi bootable SD cards.
I've never run into a valid ISO that ventoy couldn't boot.
I've used the iodd 2541 for years and loved it, very useful tool
I remember seeing this thing but forgot the name! I was searching for so long to find the product again. Thanks a ton!
Another possible alternative is a rooted Android smartphone with DriveDroid or similar software. If you already have the phone it's basically free. The only problem is it's been very unreliable on my current phone, likely due to some hardware or firmware quirks. But if it works it's great. One unique advantage is that since it's a smartphone you can download new ISOs without needing any extra hardware.
But that's the thing about yours or other software solutions. They aren't even close to 100% reliable. This one is simpler, so if you have to use it often, it adds up in fuckery avoided.
@@SomeThingOrMaybeAnother And the IODD is just software running on a different device. I think my situation is unreliable because of a flaky USB port. IIRC it used to be more reliable.
Sweet, we have something like this at work but much older. At home i use a 256gig thumb drive with Ventoy installed on it, everytime you want to add a iso to it, you just drop it into the root of the usb stick. Good Video Jeff !
Just the ad made my day! Delivering a creative take makes ads watchable and not skippable! :D
The ST400 looks great, would give it a crack, thank you for bringing attention to this handy tool!
Really wish you would have done a comparison between this drive and ventoy on a standard USB Drive. I use a M.2 NVME enclosure that isn't all that much bigger than a USB Stick with Ventoy (I have a second one with Medicat Installed). It is lightning fast and I would like to have had some kind of comparison to this device. Sounds like Ventoy has a real advantage in that you don't have to choose your .iso until it boots.
There's a number of things this can do that Ventoy cannot. One useful one is being able to hide the storage from the booted OS so it only sees internal drives. Windows has a bad habit of writing boot files to external drives.
Exactly! I see no real advantage over Ventoy.
@@LemmingGoBoom Never had this problem. Windows will create boot drive on external drive only if you select that external drive as target during installation.
P.S.: Some USB drives have a physical switch which toggles write protection. Would do the same thing. At a fraction of the cost.
@@LemmingGoBoom I've never seen Windows bootable files on removable drives, but what Windows does is it writes hidden "SYSTEM VOLUME INFORMATION" and "RECYCLE BIN" folders on all drives, including removable ones.
Yeah since learning about ventoy I have been so happy adding ISO to it and using it in many different scenarios
Been using the equivalent from Zalman for years. Very handy. Sadly not all Zalman models were of the same build quality but mine has survived the test of time until now.
Right with you. My Zalman is starting to show its age.
The Zaman ones were relabeled IODD devices.
I love the new squarespace ad lol
Had the zelman brand enclosure about 10years ago. Did a basic version of this. It a massive space saver, as we always carried a portable usb dvd drive and a bunch of writable discs
Loved the older Zalman ones (and the original Korean OEM that made them). The USB 3.0 ones were bad about breaking off the USB connectors, but the 2.0 ones were robust. Hundreds of ISOs and floppy disk images all on one SSD was great.
Yeah I bought the USB 3.0 one from Amazon years ago and got the 2.0 one... and I kept it cause its much better than the 3.0 version. That one also lets you mount floppy, hard drive, and removable disk images on top of the ISOs. I can't work without it.
Mine broke on the toggle selector
My Zalman one lost its firmware after a few years. It took arcane prayers and a P4-era PC running XP and software from a Russian forum to get it working again, but it did resurrect and is now with a fellow tech.
I bought a newer IODD USB 3.0 one which has been flawless.
Cool. I made a similar device a couple years back using a Raspberry Pi Zero. Of course it is limited to USB2 speeds and storing disk images on the SD card, but it works well.
Can you give me a guide (prefer googleable keyword because RUclips hates URLs)
@@bitelaserkhalif I built mine from scratch using scripts and an IR sensor/remote but the gadget_cdrom project on github does the same thing with a nice OLED screen and menu.
Thanks for this video. I never imagined such a product even existed. It's perfect for me, as I'm always misplacing, misfiling or forgetting to label OS DVDs. Thanks again!
I must admit...best lead in to Squarespace I have ever seen.
If you want a cheaper options you could use the tool ventoy on a 128GB USB Stick. It offers you also the possibility to mount iso's with a nice boot selector.
There's a number of things this can do that Ventoy cannot. One useful one is being able to hide the storage from the booted OS so it only sees internal drives. Windows has a bad habit of writing boot files to external drives.
@@LemmingGoBoom not really a use case for me. I use windows only for gaming and rest is Linux and I also only have Linux isos or XCP-ng and TrueNAS on my stick. And as soon as the devs of the games I play and enable proton support in their anti cheat that will remove windows completely from my life.
@@LemmingGoBoom I installed windows a thousand times and I have never had this happen to me. how are you letting windows just do want it wants.
no VHDs though. I use ventoy as well, but having options is good. Or sometimes i need to boot multiple PCs at once, which is why it's nice to have options!
The VHD part of these is really cool. You can set up a few Linux installs and windows 2 go, and then you need way less isos.
Another cool option with VHD is you could boot into one of multiple live CD ISOs, but still have VHD for your other files and have writable media, while the live cd images will be read only. Great for portable setup, as well switching distros, while keeping some big downloads (maybe games for example), intact.
Easy-To-Boot is my go to. I have a 128GB USB stick with a couple dozen Linux distros, a few Windows versions, and a few utilities.
You won my like with a commercial at the beginning 😂
There is software to turn Raspberry Pi into a functionally similar device. There is also multi-boot software to keep many ISOs on a single thumb drive and select the one you need at boot time.
What is it called?
@@brucekives2194 Ventoy, Easy2Boot - this is multi-boot software for USB drives. Don't remember how the RPi analog is called.
NTFS support has been natively in Linux since Kernel 2.4, with a major rewrite having been done for the filesystem in 4.14
it's low performance and there are no functional checkdisk tools, but yeah, it will work for a while
its still kinda buggy/issuey compared to a normal linux fs. but it does work mostly
@@iodehk5205 Oh absolutely, I'm an ext4 or btrfs guy myself; I just wanted to clarify the slight misinformation in the video stating "NTFS is not supported on Linux", when that's factually incorrect.
It doesn't work the best as a native fs for Linux, but Linux can access the fs just fine for data management and transfers.
Since kernel 5.15, the new ntfs3 driver is included, which performs pretty much the same as Windows.
This actually reminds me of another device I backed on kickstarter in 2018. It was called the pISO and it was a custom shield for the raspberry pi zero that included a screen and a male USB 2 plug. It had a lot less functionality then the device you reviewed here but had the same ability to mount a ISO, but only from the fat formatted microSD card. It could also do storage partitions.
OMG I HAVE TO GET THIS!!! I have a 4TB SSD ready for installation! Thanks Jeff!!!
I've started using Ventoy a while ago, it's wonderful. I only have a single GPT one at this point, but may make an MBR version for the rare times that I still need that.
What about Ventoy?
I've actually gotten my coworkers to start using Ventoy at work and at home. I even went as far as to turn our custom wim file into a fully bootable ISO complete with a autounattend file integrated with it. When you boot the ISO it wipes the disk, skips the OOBE, creates the users accounts and plops you onto the desktop of our custom Windows installation. Took a while to get figured out, but man is cool to watch and WAY faster to install than a WDS server if put on an SSD
back in the XP days, the unattended install processes were less refined but i spent piles of time making updated fully patched, updated drivers, with all my software so i could blow windows out and be fully usable in less than an hour. ie: codecs, ftp clients, different browser, different useful utilities. havent played with a WIM file for making an unattended new version of windows. ;) win10 largely works out of the box, updates most drivers, etc. but xp, i generally had a raid controller or other unsupported controller and needed .sys files loaded automagically before install could find disks etc. though this is true on win10 still? maybe newer builds have amd ryzen board raid boot support built in now. but i dont always run raid since pcie gen4 nvme drives are already way too fast to see any difference for a home user.
Really cool… ordered one straight away, after seeing this video
Have you tried Ventoy.. used it for years, allows you to buy a 32gig stick, ventoy runs a small os that allows you select from a list of whatever ISO's you have stored on there... so much easier and cheaper than this (albeit super nerdy and i want it) option. I usually have a couple of linux, a promox and a windows iso. super easy..
There's a number of things this can do that Ventoy cannot. One useful one is being able to hide the storage from the booted OS so it only sees internal drives. Windows has a bad habit of writing boot files to external drives.
I used easy2boot for years and it works like a charm for most things. I only encountered problems with pfsense, which needed some more steps to make it work.
It's a free alternative you can use in a standard pendrive
I used to use e2b for years but then got one of these enclosures and won't go back. These are so much easier to use.
Hello, again!
I'm still a bit confused on when I'd need to set up multiple partitions versus just having one big partition.
When would I need more than one?
Ventoy is amazing, let's you dump ISOs onto a USB or external HDD and choose which one to boot like you would with a dualboot system with grub, it's really neat
I originally purchased the Zalman version of this product, then the IODD touch version, then the mini, m.2 version, which is my current go-to. I have a 256GB usb with ventoy I keep on my keyring, but the IODD is great to have in addition. One of the best tools a PC tech can have in their LTT backpack :P
Linus would be proud 🥲🤣
Old principle, we had one at work for 2.5. Glad to see they upgraded the thing.
Iv had a Zalman for around 10 years now, its been amazing.. Keeping all my ISOs on there for "just incase" moment was life changing for me in the IT World. I worked (and now owned) an MSP so having all the OS ISOs for all the customers was super useful. If you work in this space this drive is a no brainer to get.
Been using that system (prev model, smaller LCD, different brand) for at least 10 years!
Still have a couple of those but now I’m using an external SSD with Ventoy!
Get with the times.
There are things this can do that Ventoy cannot.
@@LemmingGoBoom There are things that ventoy can do that this cannot.
Like a graphical launch menu (not pre-selection, LAUNCH)
Like using any usb to fit multiple ISO
If you need encryption i would understand, but this is rather a niche case scenario, most ISO do not contain personal / confidential information unless pre-programmed
@@llortaton2834I don't really see how a graphical launch menu is that much of an advantage?
It's easier to see, easier to navigate are 2 benefits ventoy has over it
@@llortaton2834 this has a GUI to selct stuff on its own screen, and it can fit multiple ISOs too. It's more compatible with older stuff or servers than Ventoy
Looks like just Ventoy with a marked up price? It's just an enclosure??
EDIT: Looks like it does more, but not worth the extra money for an enclosure IMO.
There are things this can do that Ventoy cannot.
@@LemmingGoBoom Yep, But for most people needing just an easier way for bootable ISOs this does not seem worth it.
@@msinfo32 I'm buying one right now, saves the 10 is USB images I use often.
Craft computing highlighting great products and once again making them sold out and jump in price 20-30%. I wish I had one of these and will be hunting for one now. Thanks
Thanks for this video. I learned new thing.
Great add 👍
what i learnt from this video is IODD ST400 is a trash. its better to use thumb drives and rufus!!!!
What a useful concept! To think this has been around for quite a while judging by comments, and I had no idea. It's such a specific product, I can't imagine how I'd hear about it unless I thought of the idea first and then looked for one, or like her, happened upon it's existence... in other words, it's highly non-standard; hopefully that changes!
I honestly thought iodd went out of business years ago...
Good to see they still exist
Ventroy? Ever heard of it?
There are things this can do that Ventoy cannot.
Great find, thanks.
OMG, it really worked. Thank you so much!!
I need this, thanks for making me aware of this :)
I understand that it might be just for demonstration purposes but do you really use physical usb drives and screens for your servers? I find ilo/idrac/ipmi sufficient.
Thanks for informing me of the existance of such a neat device! One note to the start about your comment on the necessity of specifying the maximum Height of 7mm: this is actually important, as some 2.5" harddrives are actually 9mm or even 11mm thick, thus incompatible with this enclosure (my 4TB seagate for example)
Exactly. Some drives are still "large"
nice review i have the iodd2541and its an aswesome tool ...(to the hell with rufus ventoy etc) i have a big question can you test it with an ssd a good one please? i use my iodd 2541 with a samsung 860 evo 1tb it give me a 250MB/s transfer max so i want to know if it is much faster..... please can you try ?
Is that a full speed 90 degree USB cable? Can you provide a link? I keep finding cheap cables maxed at 480 mbps.
Looks like a great device, but how do you deal with applications that does not have an iso? Like for test apps that install themselves on a USB thumbdrive for example, or like the windows installer tool that ask you to insert a usb thumbdrive in a computer to create the USB installer device. Do you create multiple partitions on the drive (like 8, 16 or 32 GB ) that act as USB thumbdrives, and install on those? But then those are recognized as USB bootable devices or as standard hard drive partitions?
Also does this device works with old computers like for Windows 95 or 98, so you can boot an iso image on an old computer if you do not have a USB cd rom? Thanks
Been using one for a couple years now. Fantastic devices.
Did you look into the ADM? Is that for Android Device Manager for flashing android?
Beyond TrueNas, proxmox, opensense, VMware, Ubuntu, Fedora, Kali, tails, and Windows, what ISOs do you keep on hand?
what a nice tool !!!
drive emulation with a pass word and encryption ! Turin would love this
Really cool cup. What cup is that?
Question regarding the IODD device. For my work we have instruments which use a USB stick for data transfer, the problem is however that it only detects USB sticks, if I connect a USB SSD for example I cant use it because that shows up in windows as a removeable harddrive and not as a USB stick.
Does the ST400 emulate USB sticks correctly so that Windows sees it as a USB stick and can I make a writeable image/emulation so data can be written to the virtual USB stick?
ST400 and IODD Mini SSD have additional advantages. You can secure boot to ISOs and VHDs without any compatibility issues. Encrypted drive. You can change the device type between 'Fixed disk' and 'Removable' so that the device or VHD either appears as a hard disk or as a removable flash drive. Of course, you can always install Ventoy or Easy2Boot onto the IODD drive as well. Then you can use the extra features of those utilities too such as live ISO + persistence, boot Windows ISOs and pick XML or injection file, install XP to SATA\SCSI drives (E2B only), Fully automated Windows install from unaltered Windows Install ISO with drivers, apps, etc. (E2B only), driver replacement (Ventoy only), etc.
Too bad it's unavailable and no clue if/when available again according to Amazon, as this would be an amazing addition to my gear set.
Any idea why it might be unavailable/discontinued?
I love this product and even the older models
I have a 128GB M.2 SSD lying around. Is there such a device for that form factor? I only found ioddMINIs but they come with a drive, which I don't need. Thanks!
Having this same device but with an internal battery so you can power it on to select and mount iso prior to booting a computer would make it so much more user friendly.
They always used to.. I think it was a capacitor as it only lasted about 10 minutes but it was enough to select a drive and walk over to the machine that needed booting
I hope the review is wrong on this point because it will massively reduce the usefulness of the new models.
Dude this is awesome! I’m gonna get one!
Does encryption slow down the transfer speed?
We have been using old versions of the iodd devices for a while. There are some nice upgrades on this such as being able to boot from VHD and having USB-C instead of the stupid micro usb-3 connection.
Can you use this run old windows games without the physical CDs? I don't own a computer with an optical drive, but I still have plenty of old games that require the CD to run.
What if you connected the IODD ST400 to a powered USB hub? Would that allow you to set a boot ISO before powering on the computer?
is it possible to hide the SSD drive storage inside the IODD from the OS while in DVD emulated mode? e.g. see ONLY the emulated DVD when I connect it to the PC and boot from it
Which trackball is that on your desk? Reminds me of the old Logitech Trackman Marble FX.
Great video. I use Ventoy for this. You can add whatever iso you want once the flash drive has been formatted by Ventoy. I will definitely look into this.
Dudes snarky humor is freakin awesome
One possible caveat is that some older PCs refuse to boot from USB 3.X. Since I use cheap, semi-obsolete systems for specific purposes, all my OS install flash drives are USB 2.0. I've even seen this from some older systems that came stock with USB 3.0. onboard.
You can restrict the USB mode in the settings of the device. Or just use a USB 2.0 only cable...
This seems like a cool product but for something like multiboot with YUMI, what would the advantages of using this?
Dang it Jeff, I saw this a few days ago and considered pulling the trigger, put it in my cart before watching then decided to watch the video before pulling the trigger, went back and they were out. One of these days I'll learn to just pull the trigger
Correction, Mac OS supports reading nfts without plugins. You need a plug-in if you want to write to nfts.
Awesome! Thanks for the tips :D
Very interesting and potentially very useful product. I definitely want something more durable than your typical flash drive for most use cases.
This sounds amazing
Where do I buy the raktajino mug?
Have had my Zalman ZM-VE300 a decade now. Use it at least once a week. Saved me so much time
I have the VE200 and VE300. I honestly prefer the VE200, its got better firmware and will let me mount floppy disks as well. USB2 is enough for my needs and haven't really had a problem with it.